Page 71 of A Holly Brown Christmas
“Sounds like a plan.”
Nineteen
It was a little after ten, and the last of the guests had just left. All around the house, Melissa’s staff was cleaning and packing things up. Holly, Lucas, Anna, and Kat all stood in the entryway dreading going down to let Spencer and Camille out.
“Look, your parents are already mad at me,” Holly said. “I can go down and let them out.”
“No, no, no…you already had to be the bad guy when it should have been one of us,” Anna told her. “I think we should all go down and just…yank the bandage off. Or…you know…unlock the door.”
Slowly, they made their way down the stairs and over to the storage room door.
“Should we do rock, paper, scissors to decide who unlocks it?” Kat asked.
“We’re not children, Kat,” Lucas said wearily before looking at Holly.
“I really want to do it,” she told him. “And besides, it’s quiet now. Maybe they’ve both calmed down and will come out here and apologize for causing such a scene.”
“Are you sure, Holly?” Anna asked. “They really aren’t your problem. You should be running for freedom right about now.”
She knew Anna was teasing. “I like to finish what I start,” she assured her. “So…why don’t you three stand back and I’ll throw myself on the grenade?”
“Holly…”
She wasn’t listening and simply waved off their concerns. Quietly, she took the key from the hook and listened at the door for a moment. When she didn’t hear anything, she carefully unlocked the door and stepped inside.
“Ohmygoodness!” she cried. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Then ran out of the room, tossing the key at Lucas.”
“What in the world…?” he asked, taking her in his arms. Kat ran to the door and screeched before running back out with her hands over her eyes.
“For God’s sake, you two!” Kat yelled.
“What?” Anna demanded. “What’s going on?”
“They’re doing it!” Kat snapped. “Ugh! I feel like I need to wash my eyes with bleach or go vomit or something!”
Lucas continued to hold her, but they both started to chuckle. It wasn’t funny—not really—but considering the situation just a couple of hours ago, this was quite the turn of events.
“For crying out loud! Can’t a husband and his wife have a little privacy without their kids walking in on them? And Holly?” Spencer asked with bashful amusement.
While also adjusting his pants.
Good grief…
“Your mother’s not going to come out if you all can’t control yourselves. Now…I’m sorry that you…you know…saw what you saw,” he said, looking directly at Holly and then at Kat. “But we’re not going to discuss it because what we were doing is none of your business.”
“Tell that to my brain,” Kat murmured.
“Kat…” Anna whined. “Please.”
Sighing dramatically, Kat sat down with a huff. “Fine.”
“Good,” Spencer said, turning and going back into the storage room. He was speaking softly and probably trying to convince Camille to come out and face her children.
“Maybe I should go,” Holly whispered to Lucas, but he held her tight.
Okay, then…
Camille appeared with her hand in Spencer’s. She shot Holly a hard glare, but quickly put an awkward smile on her face.
